Dragon Ball EX
by Shadowblade217
Summary: In an alternate universe where Goku returned to his life in Otherworld after the Majin Buu Saga, the Z-Fighters must contend with many new challenges. GT replacement with new allies, new enemies and many new adventures.


**Disclaimer:** I do not own Dragon Ball Z, or any other portion of the Dragon Ball franchise.

_**Dragon Ball EX**_

**New Androids Saga, Part 1: Awakening**

_Time flows along a specific course. Any variation from this course of events can change the course of history, creating an alternate timeline, in which events may become something completely different. In one particular case, a single, fateful decision was enough to create two vastly different futures._

_In one timeline, the warrior known to his friends as Son Goku decided to remain on Earth after his defeat of the monster known as Majin Buu, to spend his second life with his friends and family. In another, he made the decision to return to his life in Otherworld; he gave the Elder Kai his life back, deciding that the Earth would be fine without him. Before that, however, he informed Vegeta and the others that soon, the Earth would have a new defender, one who Vegeta would have to train as the Earth's new guardian._

_A year later, Vegeta found the person he sought; a young human named Uub, who (Goku had explained) was actually the reincarnation of the diabolical creature referred to as Kid Buu, reborn as an innocent human child. It was explained that King Yemma had allowed Buu to be reborn within the body of a child who had already been born, as Uub was already ten years old when Buu was transferred into him. It was the energy of that rebirth that allowed Vegeta to find him, as Buu's energy flared once, incredibly bright, and then ebbed to nothing as it was absorbed into Uub's body._

_Vegeta took in the young child and trained him as a warrior, teaching him the skills he would need to become a worthy defender of Earth. Uub moved from his home village – which was helped greatly by Bulma, the head of Capsule Corporation, to remove the poverty that its residents were suffering from – and took up residence at the Capsule Corporation compound, where he grew into a strong young man._

_Years passed, and the Z-Fighters settled back into a time of peace._

_But the universe still turned, and eventually danger once again rose, from a most unlikely source, to threaten the people of Earth…_

.

_Planet Earth_

_Eleven miles west of North City, Age 779_

_Five years after the defeat of Majin Buu_

It happened subtly. One event, a small, seemingly meaningless event that would have a startling effect on the planet Earth.

An electrical failure. A short circuit, causing a blackout in the power grid of North City. A workaround was quickly established until repairs could be completed on the damaged connection.

But something had been cut off. A single electrical cable, hardwired, running out of the city and into the nearby mountains.

Deep within one of the mountains was a building that had once housed a scientist's laboratory. This scientist had sought revenge against an individual who had eradicated the organization he had worked for long ago, and his drive for vengeance would decimate the Earth in not one, but two separate timelines, and had come very close to decimating a third.

The scientist's name was Dr. Gero.

His lab had possessed several levels, all concealed within a mountain; the first floor was the main laboratory, where Gero had created most of his androids. Below the main lab was a backup laboratory, where the malicious bio-android known as Cell had once been housed and created. Both of these laboratories had been destroyed many years earlier, leaving no trace that they had ever existed except for the rubble and shattered wreckage of the labs.

But, unbeknownst to anyone, Gero had maintained a third laboratory; this one was far below the others, a thousand feet beneath the second lab, concealed deep within the bedrock. It was so deeply buried that no one would ever have known it was there, patiently waiting in stasis… until a power outage in nearby North City cut off the primary power source for the lab; a lengthy underground cable that connected the lab to the nearby city, enabling it to tap into North City's power grid.

Without this power intake, the lab's delicate internal systems shut off, and an alarm was triggered.

The lab's contents were in jeopardy, and must be protected.

.

Within the laboratory, two large metal pods stood against a wall, surrounded by equipment and wiring devoted to monitoring the contents. Each of the pods was ten feet high and made of a specially designed alloy designed to be extremely durable. The one on the left had a large #**21** emblazoned on its retractable lid, while the one on the right was marked #**22**.

Suddenly, the lights in the lab flickered, and then abruptly deactivated. For a moment, absolute darkness filled the silent lab. With a series of clicks and whirs, the life-support systems powering the two stasis pods deactivated.

Red emergency lights activated about thirty seconds later as the backup generator kicked in. However, it had taken too long; the life support systems had already been disconnected, and the mechanisms were years old and had not received any maintenance in over a decade. One pod – the one on the left – whirred to life as the systems managed to reconnect, but the other remained dark and silent, its monitoring lights all glowing red.

For several seconds, it appeared as if whatever was concealed within the right pod would die there, alone and hidden forever. Then, quite suddenly, there was a loud bang from within the pod on the right. The bang was repeated three further times, the pod hatch denting outwards, and then ceased. Silence fell once more.

With an earsplitting crash, the lid of the stasis pod burst off its hinges, the supposedly indestructible metal crumpling like tinfoil as the pod was ripped open from within.

The lid crashed to the ground, and the lab was silent again for a long moment. Then a figure, about six feet tall, stepped out of the pod and onto the floor of the lab.

He was a young man, physically a teenager. He was sinewy and muscular, but not overly imposing. He was strikingly pale, and his eyes, when he opened them, were a cold, piercing, icy blue. His hair was jet black and stood up in spikes around his head, as if neatly shaped into position with hair gel. He wore a black skintight bodysuit that covered most of his body except for his hands, bare feet, and head; the bodysuit had an insignia on the left side of his chest, a red badge with the initials R.R. written on it in white. He glanced around the lab, his eyes taking in everything. Humans would not have been able to see very well in the dim red light, but his eyes could see every tiny detail of the room.

Turning, the young man walked over to the other stasis pod beside his own, his eyes narrowing as he studied the controls. He quickly flipped several switches, activating the controls and opening the pod.

The lid retracted with a hiss of air and a metallic _whirr_, revealing its contents – a tall man, at least seven feet in height. His body bulged with muscle from head to toe, and his hair was cropped closely to his head in a military-style buzz cut. His eyes opened slowly, blinking and taking in his surroundings. They were exactly the same shade of bright blue as the young man's eyes.

The two men exchanged nods. The younger one spoke first. "21."

"22," the older man acknowledged. "Why have you awoken me?"

The young man – 22 – shrugged. "There's been some kind of power outage. My pod was disconnected, so I had to bust my way out. Yours was still working, so I decided to open it and wake you up."

21 nodded. "Very well." He stepped out of the pod, considering his surroundings. "What should we do? Without Dr. Gero present, you are in command. That is our programming."

"Right," 22 agreed. "Well, personally I'd say we should get out of here. I'd rather not spend any more time in this oversized coffin than we have to. Let's get up to the surface, go find something to eat and some real clothes, and then work out a plan."

"Affirmative." 21 nodded again. "Lead the way."

22 walked over to a large metal door and placed his hand on a screen next to the door. There was no response.

"Hand scanner's out too," 22 mused. "Ah, well, then." He slid his fingers into the doorframe and yanked. The door weighed over a ton, but it was ripped out of its frame and tossed aside effortlessly with a casual flick of 22's hand. He stepped into the shaft, then launched himself upward like a bullet, heading straight up. 21 also walked into the shaft and followed suit.

As the last two androids that Dr. Gero had ever created streaked upward, aimed for the surface, 22 contemplated their mission for a moment, going over his goals again. There was one overriding imperative present, gleaming in his mind; his greatest goal, the reason for his existence.

Smiling, 22 increased the speed of his ascent, sped on by the impetus of his programming.

_Goku must die._

**AN: Well, for everyone who's read this, welcome to my new story, **_**Dragon Ball EX!**_** As you might have guessed, EX stands for extreme (I know, a little cheesy, but it's the best name I could come up with), and I hope to live up to that name with this story. **_**EX**_** will be a replacement of **_**Dragon Ball GT**_**, so I'm not treating **_**GT**_** as canon here. I will be incorporating specific elements of **_**GT**_** later on in the story, but those will only consist of specific characters and scenarios, not major story arcs from **_**GT**_**. I've got a very lengthy story planned, so get ready for a long ride! Please let me know what you think or ask any questions you may have via reviews (No hate, please).**

**Now, I'm going to address one thing right now, as it will probably be asked numerous times otherwise; Goku will be appearing in **_**EX**_**, and he will return to life and to the mortal world at some point soon, but he will not be featured in this story for quite some time. There are two reasons for that: One, the story arc I have in mind is perfectly designed for the current characters (Gohan and Vegeta in particular), but would not work nearly as effectively if Goku was present. My reasoning for this is very simple, and ties into my second reason for not having Goku in the first story arc of **_**EX**_**; By the end of the Majin Buu Saga, Goku was extremely powerful, much more so than any other non-fused character (except, most likely, for Mystic Gohan). His absence will make things much more difficult for the Z-Fighters when a new threat emerges, which will make the story much more complex and, hopefully, much more entertaining for everyone.**

**Also, the Uub thing; I know some people are going to protest, "But Uub wasn't born until right after the Buu Saga, so he should only be five years old, not ten!" Well, I have a reason for that too; I'm planning to have Uub take a more active role later on in the story, and to do that, he has to be older than five. So, I'm taking the liberty of altering his character somewhat; he'll still be basically the same character, but he was born earlier, and Yemma just selected him as a pure-hearted candidate to serve as the vessel for Buu's reincarnation as a good person.**

**Hopefully, this explanation has been helpful for you all, and I won't be besieged by enraged fans accusing me of leaving out Goku. Trust me, I love the guy, but I have very good reasons for not including him in the first story arc. Don't worry, he'll be back soon enough.**

**See you next time!**


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